Case Closed
by Kupo Stiltzkin
Summary: Kidd's investigation on Jeane, the rune master is as equally fruitless as his predecessor, Richmond. But is it really fruitless?


_A/N: A Kidd fic, focusing mainly on his failed investigations. If you like Suikoden Marriage Prospects, the link is at my bio. _

* * *

**Case Closed:**

**Jeane******

Kidd was scanning through his files when Hugo walked down the steps, and he quickly closed the folder. He learned long ago that loose lips sink ships, and even though the Flame Champion has no history of babbling, who knows what Hugo might be saying outside after a quick peek on his investigation files?

"What is that?" Hugo pointed to the file Kidd hid inside his jacket.

Kidd gave him a look. "What is what?"

"Nothing… have you finished your investigation on Belle?" Hugo asked.

Kidd grinned and went to pull out a folder from his cabinet. "Here you go, the result of final investigation."

Hugo took the file and gave it a quick read. "Searching for her runaway mother, huh?"

"Why are you interested in her?"

"I keep getting these weird letters from her. She said that the lake is beautiful, etc…"

"Like an invitation?"

"Sort of…Anyway, since this is the last investigation on Belle, I can ask for somebody else's, right?"

"Sure. Who else?" Kidd said, rubbing his chin smugly.

"Jeane."

Kidd's smug smile widened and he elbowed Hugo playfully. "You know, I always thought your feet are pretty fast. I didn't know that you got fast hands as well."

"What are you talking about?"

"C'mon, Hugo!" Kidd smirked. "We're both men, you can tell me!"

"I hope you're not thinking what I'm thinking that you're thinking."

"Fine if you don't wanna admit it."

Kidd scribbled Hugo's request inside his notebook not long after the Karayan boy left, and wrote the only information he knew from a mere glance at Jeane.

_Jeane__, Chiketsu Star  
_'_She's a sexy Rune Sage. What's her real identity?'_

Kidd didn't know though, that he's going to suffer the consequence of a lifetime from further investigation on the rune master.

. . . .

"A sexy rune sage." Thomas said, placing the file down. "And you still don't know anything about her."

"Hey, at least it -_is_- informative." Kidd said, pulling the file back. "I'll give you more for… oh, 100 potch."

The castle master reached inside his pocket and placed several coins on the detective's hand. "I'll be back in a few moments," Kidd grinned at him.

Humming a nameless tune to himself, Kidd exited the underground dungeon and found himself in Mamie's restaurant. He reached Jeane's shop in a short time, and saw Nash stood in front of his next target.

"It's been a while, Nash," Jeane said, leaning into the counter and resting her chin into her palm. "You haven't change at all."

Nash smiled courteously at her. "I'm already 37, Jeane. I'm _old_. See these crow's feet around my eyes?"

The Rune sage chuckled. "You still look the same to me."

"And you look even more beautiful and younger."

"You're a flatterer," Jeane giggled.

"Ah, but I'm saying the truth." Nash smiled. "Say, how long has it been since our meeting in Greenhill? Five, six years?"

"Fifteen, I believe."

"And you certainly haven't changed a bit. Like a _monster_."

"And you certainly haven't stopped poking your nose in other people's business."

"Hey!" Nash raised his hands defensively "I only wanted to know the secret of your beauty. Which made me even curious, how old are you?"

Jeane's tone dropped into a deadly whisper, but her smile remained. "Didn't anybody ever tell you it's _forbidden_ to ask a woman's age?"

"Of course. I learned it the hard way," Nash's smile widened. "From my missus, I mean. One last question. How did you stay so young for the last fifteen years?"

Kidd never heard Jeane's answer. Chris and several knights entered the shop, and Nash's attention suddenly turned to the knight. He was leaving the place when Borus threatened Nash with a menacing grip on the hilt of his sword.

_'She hasn't change a bit. Could it be that she is a true rune bearer?'_

Kidd stared proudly at the note, and got up from the fountain. He intended to return to his office as fast as possible, where his client will certainly wait for the investigation they paid for. _Thomas will be delighted_, he thought. But just before Kidd inserted the rigged paper inside his pocket, a slender hand reached out and took it from his grasp. "Hey, gimme that!" he yelled, but quickly shut his mouth when he realized who was the silver haired woman.

Jeane was standing before him, holding the note he wrote earlier. "My, oh, my…what is this?"

Kidd gulped inadvertently. "No, nothing! It's just some gibberish I thought up."

"Then why does it have my name in it?" She showed the note to Kidd.

The boy could feel cold sweat budding on his temples. "Like is said, it's just something I thought up! I- I- wanted to write a novel and send it to Arthur's newspaper," He covered lamely.

His jaw was dropping slightly when Jeane ripped off the recent note from the folder, and gulped when Jeane bent down to whisper at him. The warmth of Jeane's breath tickled his ear and the sweet scent of her perfume made him sick to his stomach. In a normal situation, Kidd knew he would be blushing at the clear sight of Jeane's cleavage in front of him… but his face, evidently, has lost its color. He has lost count on how many times he gulped.

"I don't like anybody _invading_ my privacy."

It was the last thing he heard before succumbing to darkness.

"Kidd?"

The boy looked up, almost jumping from where he's standing. The smell of his soggy and dusty office filled his nostrils, and when he looked around, it was indeed his office. Thomas stood before him, staring at him with a cocked eyebrow.

"Are you all right?" Thomas asked.

Kidd blinked. "Huh?"

Thomas frowned. "Do you want to go to the infirmary? Maybe Tuta can-"

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Really," Kidd shook his head.

"All right if you say so. I'm here to ask the news about your last investigation."

"Last investigation?"

"Jeane."

Kidd nearly dropped the file he was holding. "Jeane… Oh, I thought I found something...but I- I…" He shook his head furiously and rubbed his temple. "…forgot what it was. Am I tired?"

Thomas sighed deeply and pulled the younger boy. "Doctor Tuta will know the answer."

The trip to the infirmary was a short one, and Tuta sent the detective home without any drug prescription. Tuta advised him to take a bath in order to get his mind off things, and Kidd insisted that he has a memory lapse. The detective hastily scurried away when Tuta proposed the idea of giving him a shot.

By the time Thomas asked him for further investigations on Jeane, Kidd has totally forgotten about the incident he had earlier.

. . . .

The next day, Kidd entered the shopping arcade through Guillaume and Gordon's shop. He carefully leaned at the door frame, but apparently he found the 'Close' sign at the top of the counter.

"_Where's Jeane_?" he wondered.

When he walked outside, he saw Lilly Pendragon was standing with a man, with a scholar's attire and matching glasses up his nose.

"I can't believe it…" the man said.

"D'oh. Marlowe, can you be _vaguer_?" Lilly said, crossing her arms and pouting at the man.

"I'm sorry… but I just can't believe it. She hasn't change at all. That face, that way she walks, her body. I met her for the first time at Dunan Unification War. That was a good fifteen years ago," Marlowe answered. "And she hasn't change a bit."

Lilly frowned. "What?! That can't be!"

"It could be that she has a True Rune, just like Lord Riou…" Marlowe said.

Lilly ribbed her chin thoughtfully. "I really want to know who she is…or rather, _what_ she is…"

Marlowe left the castle not long after, much to Samus and Reed's dismay.

Kidd silently followed Lilly (who has brought a towel and bathing equipment with her) into the underground, and stopped only when he saw where she has gone into. He was fighting the great urge to open the bath's flaps when Goro's thundering voice made him jump.

"Hey! The men's side is over there!"

Kidd gave the bath house owner a look. "Well, I, uh, left something in there."

It was Goro's turn to stare at him with a raised eyebrow. "_You_ left something inside the _women_'s bath?"

"It's my rubber ducky," Kidd lied, "I swear, I can't sleep without it."

"I just cleaned it this morning, and found nothing in there," Goro countered. "Now stop peeking, or I'll make you clean the bath tubs for one month."

Kidd muttered something unintelligible under his breath. That's when he heard Lilly's voice from the other side. "Do you know Tinto's historian, Marlowe Cody? He also serves in the army. Recently, he came by the castle and apparently saw you."

"Without offering so much as a greeting or a handshake..." was Jeane's reply.

"You... You haven't changed much in the past 15 years...Perhaps... you have the true rune on you..." Lilly muttered.

"Hee hee..."

"On that body...somewhere..."

At this, Kidd continued to lean closer to the bath's flap, and ignored Goro, who was clearing his throat roughly.

"Hee hee..."

"The true rune..."

"Hee hee! Would it help you find it if I stepped out of the bath?"

The sound of water, and Lilly's voice followed. "It's nowhere!"

"Hee hee hee..."

Lilly gasped. "Eeekk! Peeping Tom!"

Kidd only managed to hear the last two words, since he has poked his head into the women's bath. Lilly has thrown the Banshak Sake Set to his direction out of frenzy, and hit Kidd's forehead directly, causing the boy's unconsciousness. Later, Tuta declared that he passed out caused by blood loss (from his nostrils).

Whether he saw anything or not, it was another matter.

Kidd woke up in the infirmary with his head weighing like a rock, and his mouth tasting like the bottom of a bird cage. When he looked around, he saw Jeane was smiling at him. He blinked. Jeane? Yes, there she is, sitting at a chair beside the infirmary's bed. Kidd felt his heart leapt up his throat.

"Are you awake, Kidd?" He heard Mio's voice from the other side of the room, and soon the nurse came to his view. "You can go back anytime you want. There's an accident at Nadir's play, and I have to go there to help Dr. Tuta."

Kidd's face turned into an unhealthy shade of purple. He looked desperately at Mio, at Jeane, at the exit, Mio, and Jeane again. "NO! I'm-"

"Oh, my." Mio said, "Look at your face!"

Jeane placed a comforting hand at the nurse's shoulder. "I'll _take care_ of him, Mio. Why don't you go to the bar and help Tuta?"

"That's very nice of you, Miss Jeane." Mio smiled and turned to Kidd again, "I bet you'll like Jeane more than me." She giggled.

Kidd watched Mio left the room with his heart pounding in his ears, and felt his body growing numb when Jeane fixed her stare on him. "You're a very naughty boy, aren't you?"

He didn't answer, since his throat felt suddenly dry. He tightened his grip on the blanket and didn't realize his fingers have grown white from clutching it.

"If you're a grown man, I'd have _killed_ you," Jeane said, her smile never leaving her lips. "How much did you _see_? How much did you _know_?"

Her voice was low, almost like a cat's soft purr.

When he left the infirmary later that afternoon due to Guillaume's endless shrieking, Kidd felt very light headed. _How odd_, he thought. Tuta and Mio were already too busy with Guillaume to give him a shot of any sort. Wait, he did drink that awfully smelling herbal tea, which Tuta said will supply him with the blood lost.

"I don't understand anything."

Chris blinked. "Kidd, I don't want to sound rude, but…we _paid_ you. You're supposed to give us something in return. In this case, more information on Jeane, namely… anything you can find about her."

"And in this case, I don't understand anything," Kidd echoed.

Chris sighed and rubbed her temples delicately. But she didn't forget to ask for the last investigation on Jeane, which Kidd took immediately. But when Kidd saw Chris disappearing into the stairs, he felt a chill running up his spine. He felt like calling Chris and told her that he can't continue the investigation on the Rune Sage.

However, the weight of coins worth of 400 potch inside his pocket was pulling his doubt away, and he finally gave in.

. . . .

He decided on a careful approach the next day.

"C'mon, just tell me already! I know you know something."

A confused look.

"No, I'm not giving you this bone until you tell me."

"Arooo?"

"Koroku, tell me already, dammit!"

"Arooo!"

He was halfway feeding Koroku with Mamie's eggrolls, when the mutt tactfully snatched the bone he carefully tucked inside his bag. Koroku ran away with his bounty as fast as his four legs can provide him, leaving Kidd with an open mouth. Sighing in defeat, he crouched down in front of Koroku's kennel, and vaguely remembered the conversation that happened before this, and the reason of why he's giving treat and doggie snacks to the four legged castle guard.

_Entering Jeane's shop made his heart pounding ten times faster. Drawing a deep breath, he paused in front of the Rune shop's door._

_"Excuse me, can you tell me where the rune shop of __Budehuc__Castle__ is?"_

_Kidd turned slowly and saw Hortez VII standing at his back. "This is the rune shop." He pointed the door._

_"Oh, in that case, will you get out of the way?" Hortez flapped his hand dismissively. "I didn't open my shop yesterday, since Estella told me that Goro has moved his bath house to __Duck__Village__."_

_"Lemme guess…" Kidd said with his know-it-all grin. "You end up taking a dip with the Ducks instead?"_

_"Fortunately not.__ Surprisingly, I found the bath house located at the wrecked ship. Weird, huh?"_

_Kidd frowned. "Then how come…?"_

_"I want to go back to my shop, but because I just recently move in here, I forget my way easily. I'm willing to bet that Goro purposely gave me wrong directions. He said, just walk out of the castle, and you'll find the shop. Let me tell you one thing, Great Hollow is a scary place, and the occupants aren't friendly."_

_"Oh."_

_"Sometimes, I __can almost wish that I__ have a dog's sense of direction. They never get lost, and will definitely come back even if you purposely abandoned them in some faraway place."_

_Kidd stifled a yawn and nodded his head, only to maintain courtesy in front of Hortez. _

_"Speaking of dogs, I heard Jeane talking to Koroku yesterday. She said, 'Well Koroku, I guess I can't hide anything from you, eh boy? But don't tell anyone. I don't want to scare them.' Strange, isn't she?"_

_Kidd jerked his head up in an alarming speed, and fixed his stare at Hortez. "W-what did you say just now?!"_

_"I said, she's strange.__ I asked her to be my wife, since I found her quite beautiful, you see. And do you know what she said? 'I'm sorry Hortez, but I don't like to share.' And yet we were sharing that shop…"_

_"No, Hortez, the one before that! About Koroku!"_

_"I said that sometimes I could almost wish that I__ have a dog's sense of direction." ___

_"After that!__ What did Jeane tell Koroku?"_

_Hortez__ eyed Kidd carefully with a frown. "Are you paying any attention?"_

_"I'm listening! Please, Nefertiri, eh, Never," Kidd furiously took out his note book and impatiently flipped a few pages, "__Nefentitiri__ Radames Ampenhetep Iruiktanas Antikoseus Puto Remaios Kureakias Dimetirios Farasmuseian Ishak Saraj Amenenuhet Tatomes Hatshepsut Toto Ank Amen Hortez VII!" he said without a pause._

_"I have to admit that I'm impressed," Hortez said, and continued when Kidd glared at him. "She said, 'Well Koroku, I guess I can't hide anything from you, eh boy? But don't tell anyone. I don't want to scare them.'"___

_"Thank you!" Kidd grabbed the scroll maker's hand and shook it furiously._

_Hortez__ watched the detective disappeared and muttered. "What a strange child."_

Kidd failed on making the mutt talk. He heard somewhere there's this crystal that allowed people to talk with animals, and the owner resided somewhere in the Matillda Forest. He was wondering the trip cost to Matilda when he realized a shadow was looming after him, and his entire body grew numb. It will take all of his strength to turn back, yet he already knew who the person at his back was without turning. He has nowhere to run.

"Kidd."

Surprisingly, he found that he's still alive though his heart was hammering inside his chest. He slowly turned around and saw Jeane's slender legs, half covered in black velvet. If the circumstance was any different for him, he might want to turn up and look closer. He should have known, the conversation with Hortez took place in front of the rune shop. _Big mistake, Kidd.__ BIG mistake._ His throat was dry, but he finally managed to choke out coherent enough, though his voice was squeaky. "Yes, Miss Jeane?"

"You, Me, Basement, Now."

He pushed his body up with all his might, and silently followed Jeane into the elevator, where Shizu was waiting for them with a smile. When they reached the basement, Kidd waited until Jeane broke the silence. "Do you know what I like most about this castle?"

Kidd gulped and realized his breath was caught in his chest as Jeane strode one step closer toward him. "I, uh, I don't know."

"It's quite big, and has many rooms. There are lots of place to, say, hide dead bodies."

_I'm gonna die, _was the predominant thought in Kidd's brain as he winced. Behind that thought were other ones: _and what's worse, nobody will miss me. _The trembling detective tried to leave, but finding his feet weren't cooperating. His eyes were fixated on Jeane, who stepped even closer to him.

"Here's a good example. If I kill you down here, nobody will notice. Let's say that I use this cyclone Rune here," She showed Kidd her right palm, "And blast you into pieces small enough so Landis can pick his teeth with your remains. Don't worry; I believe he'll give you a proper burial."

Kidd felt his shirt dampening from his cold sweat, and to make matter worse, Jeane's face was only inches away from his.

"But that will be so awful for dear ol' Luc. He might lost his mind and found new ideals, but I don't want to frame him with needless, unimportant murder of a Fire Bringer member." Jeane said softly, running her delicate fingers on Kidd's hair. "Or I can just throw your body into one of those holes at the graveyard, and Twaikin will bury you without noticing."

"J-Jeane, please, stop."

The Rune sage's expression was one of confusion. "Stop what?"

Kidd had thought of saying 'Kill me', but he found more intelligible words forming in his brain, and said it out loud. "I'll stop the investigation on you."

Jeane giggled lightly and bent down to whisper into his ear, "My dear Kidd… I'm just been toying with you up till now."

The detective shuddered when she kissed his forehead lightly, and felt his world turning into oblivion.

. . . .

"It would be better if you do no more investigating."

"…"

"And I can't return your money, since I already waste it on the investigation."

"You still have the nerve to tell us that you're just fooling around," Geddoe said. "Why can't you just admit that you're incompetent?"

Kidd sighed. "I'm not fooling around. But there's one thing for sure."

"What?"

"I'll never look at her the same way anymore."


End file.
